Supernatural: Critical Care
by libra113
Summary: Sam is injured while he and Dean are attempting to take down a demon and Dean rushes him to a hospital were Sam falls into a coma. Now Dean must stay by his bedside and hope for a recovery. Meanwhile, he recalls another time he stood by Sam's bedside.


Supernatural: "Critical Care" by Chris McWilliams 

Sam and Dean Winchester ran through the woods as fast as they could in hot pursuit of their _current_ target, a Scorpio-demon, a scorpion-like monster that walks on two legs, the likes of which had rarely been seen by humans and _this_ one had been hunting these woods, feeding on hikers, campers and large animals for _decades_.

Sam had managed to determine that the _only _way to kill a Scorpio-demon was with specially made ceremonial oak staves and with Bobby's help they made a pair of them just before going out to the woods and hunting the thing down.

"Stop!" Dean shouted to Sam, holding out his arm in case he didn't hear. "What's the matter Dean? We're right on it's tail." "Not anymore," Dean said carefully scouring the area ahead with his sharply trained hunters eyes. "I _lost _sight of it and these bastards are sneaky and climb like monkeys."

Sam simply nodded, having once identified what they had been hunting, they found some notes on them in their dad's journal, turned out he had actually encountered one once in the woods of Wisconsin and had learned a good deal about them in his research.

Sam and Dean listened quietly barely even breathing, _trying_ to make out _any_ sound that the creature would make.

Suddenly, the silence was broken by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground _behind _them. _The bastard climbed the trees and got behind us_ Dean thought as he moved to take up position between the demon and Sam.

However, Scorpio-demons are fast and by the time Dean was even halfway there it had lashed out with it's mighty scorpion-like tail and tagged Sam, who had turned to defend himself, in the stomach.

"Sammy!" Dean shouted, rushing over as the _thing_ pulled it stinger, the size of a medium sized blade, out of Sam's stomach and bared it's fangs at Dean, a new target.

_Not_ for the _first_ time Dean wished the _thing's _thick hide didn't prevent bullets or blades from working, however he was just _grateful _for the staff he had in his hand.

"_You son of a bitch!" _Dean shouted seeing red and he raised the staff and slammed it down on the creature.

Dean managed to knock the Scorpio-demon off of it's feet (not an easy task), but as it fell it used it's tail as a whip and knocked Dean back several feet, into a nearby tree, knocking the wind out him and causing him to lose his staff.

Despite having the wind knocked out of him Dean was much more light so he was back on his feet first and, since his staff was lost, he picked up the one the now prone Sam had been carrying and screamed, "_I'm going to kill you, you son of a bitch_!"

Running up to the fallen Scorpio-demon Dean raised his weapon again and blinded by anger he pounded on it until his arms grew tired, then until they became numb and he _couldn't _pound anymore, every blow was filled with anger and frustration.

Finally, Dean couldn't even stand anymore and he fell to his knees next to the pulped flesh and blood that _used_ to be the Scorpio-demon.

After getting his breath his senses began to return and he _could _think clearly again, "_Sammy_!" he shouted running over to his fallen brother.

Sam didn't look so good. He was pale and wasn't moving, his breathing was shallow and his stomach had a good-sized bloody hole in it.

"Oh God!" Dean said examining Sam as best as he could, "I gotta get you _help_ and _fast_!" Dean remembered seeing a hospital on their drive out to the woods and _knew_ it was the closest place.

Pulling out a bandana he had in his coat pocket he applied pressure to the wound then slowly picked Sam up in his arms, as carefully as he could so he wouldn't do more harm, he ran as fast as he could back to where they had parked the Impala.

A short and furious drive later Dean hastily parked the Impala as close to the hospital's front doors as he could get and carefully lifted Sam into his arms again, he noticed grimly that he looked _worse _than he had in the woods and _tried_ to tell himself it was just the lighting in the parking lot.

Coming through the doors Dean shouted, "_Help! I need help! My brother is hurt_!" by now the tears he had been fighting to hold back were starting to show in his eyes and streamed down his cheeks as he cursed himself for not doing his job, _watch out for Sammy_, their dad had said that _so_ many times and for the second time in his life he felt like he had failed.

Young Dean cradled his little brother in his arms in the back seat of the Impala as their father drove madly through the darkness.

Other than to tell Dean he was taking them to stay with Pastor Jim for a little while John hadn't spoken a word to Dean and as much as Dean was glad that his dad hadn't chewed him out for leaving the motel room and _not_ keeping an eye on Sammy, in many ways the silence was much _worse_.

At one point Dean _thought_ he heard his dad mutter something about how careless he was to have his kids with him on _this_ hunt of all hunts and how he _should_ have taken them to Jim's in the _first_ place.

Nonetheless Dean felt it was _all_ his fault and he felt as if _he _alone could make it right. Since Dean had come back to the motel room and found that weird cloaked figure over Sam's bed Sam had hardly moved or spoken and since hitting the road he hadn't moved or spoke at _all_. He was sick and it was all _his_ fault.

The doctor came out into the hallway where Dean had been pacing furiously. It had been a fight to keep Dean out of the room while they examined and treated Sam; in fact they had to nearly call security to get him to agree to wait just outside the door.

"Mister Jagger," the doctor said, "I'm Doctor Black," Doctor Black put his hand out to shake Dean's hand but Dean kept looking him in the eye and simply said, "How's my brother?" Fighting to keep his voice from cracking.

"We've treated his wound and examined him thoroughly," Doctor Black said, "as far as that goes he's going to be just fine, luckily the wound was largely superficial and didn't do any real damage internally but…"

Dean frowned he didn't like sentences with words like but in them. "There's _something_ wrong , wejust haven't been able to figure out _what_ yet." "What do you _mean_?" Dean asked.

"Well Mister Jagger," Doctor Black said, "he's in some kind of a coma and we can't figure out _why_. What did you say happened?" Dean looked distracted and said "We were hunting…" "Hunting?" Doctor Black asked.

Dean mentally kicked himself, that was sloppy, "Yeah… _deer_ hunting," Dean attempted to recover, "we ran into some kind of wild buck, must have been nutty or something it charged and got my brother before I could stop it. Got him with one of it's horns."

"I see," Doctor Black said sounding unconvinced, "Was he hit on the head, drinking, anything like that?" "No," Dean said, "not that I know of. What are you doing to get him out of the coma?"

"There's _not_ much we can do," Doctor Black said, "we're going to run some tests to _try _and figure out _why_ he's in the coma but until we pinpoint the cause we're just going to have to hope he comes out of it on his own."

"On his _own_?" Dean said confused, "Does that _happen_?" "Sometimes," Doctor Black said, "but the _next _few hours will be critical. _If_ he doesn't come out of it by then the odds that he _ever_ will drop sharply."

"I see." Dean said in a hollow voice, "There _anything_ I _can _do?" Doctor Black considered the question briefly and said, "Talk to him."

Dean looked confused, "Talk to him?" "Yes," Doctor Black said, "I've seen cases where people in comas come out of it because they had _someone_ they _know_ talking to them."

Dean simply nodded and said, "In that case you _know_ where you can find me." Then he turned and went into Sam's room.

They had reached Pastor Jim's church in record time and Dean had _insisted_ on carrying Sam inside Jim's humble living quarters.

John had called ahead before they left the motel so Pastor Jim already had a bed ready and waiting for Sam and showed Dean where it was.

Once Sam was settled Pastor Jim and their dad went out of the room and Dean stayed with Sam. Kneeling by his little bed he held Sam's hand and with tears starting to form he said, "I'm sorry Sammy. I'm sorry I got you hurt and I promise here and now I will _never_ let _anything_ bad happen to you again."

In the silence that followed Dean could _just _make out the sounds of Pastor Jim and their Dad talking.

"Jim. What was I _thinking_ bringing my _own _sons with me while I hunted? Especially when hunting a Shtriga, I mean they _feed_ on kids. I might as well have been using them as bait."

"No John," Pastor Jim said, "don't blame yourself. You _told_ me that you wanted to keep them close, to _keep _them safe… Right now you have to _focus_, get back on the trail before that _thing_ disappears, _if _that happens it could be _years_ before you get another shot."

"Yeah," John said, "I _know_ you're right. Is Sammy going to be ok?" "Yes," Pastor Jim said and this news made Dean's heart rise to hear it, "from what you told me the Shtriga didn't fully feed, he will be a little sick, but there won't be any serious or lasting effects. I doubt he will even remember _any _of it."

"That's something at least," John said sounding relieved at the news but also a little sad that he allowed it to happen at all. "You got any more of those consecrated rod iron rounds? I think I used up _most _of mine in the motel."

"As a matter of fact," Pastor Jim said, "I put some aside after you called, just in case." Then they walked off and Dean could hear no more.

Dean slowly entered Sam's room as if he was sneaking into some horrible monster's lair. When he entered he saw Sam lying in the bed with an IV and assorted other wires and tubes for a moment he thought _that should be me there, my place is, and always will be, between Sammy and danger_.

As he slowly walked over he could feel himself starting to tear up again, normally he would fight it, or hide it or make some kind of joke to distract from it, but there was no point now so he just let them flow.

As he reached the bed he pulled a nearby chair over and sat down, then taking Sam's hand he said, "Hey Sammy, the saw bones says you're fine so stop loafing and let's get out of town."

Silence. The silence was too much. Dean took a deep breath and said, "Seriously, the doc told me to come in and talk to you, kind of help you come out of this coma thing, so come on I'm here, wake up. You have to wake up; I can't do all of this alone. I've kind of gotten used to having you around and it wouldn't be the same without my sidekick geek boy to do all the research and to keep me on the straight and narrow."

"I'm sorry Sammy," Dean said wiping tears from his eyes, "I told you long ago that I failed you once and that I wouldn't let it happen again, and now I have. I'm _sorry _I should have been there, I should have taken that stinger in the gut."

"Not to worry though," Dean said moving in and starting to whisper, "while they were working on you I called _everyone_, everyone in Dad's book, everyone whose number is programmed into _either_ of our cell phones, the whole gang. They _all know _what's happening and they're all in research mode, one of them is _bound_ to find something out, we _both_ know these doctors wouldn't have a clue."

Dean pulled back and saw Sam's face, he actually looked peaceful, like he was getting the best rest he had gotten since Dean came to Palo Alto and asked for his help in finding their dad. _Maybe at least you will get some rest from visions and nightmares for a change_.

"Sammy," Dean began again, "this isn't the _first_ time I failed you but just like the _last_ time I _will _fix it I promise. You _probably_ don't remember but after the Shtriga attacked you when we were kids I helped you get better then too…"

Pastor Jim came in with a small wooden tray and laid it on the side of the bed. "How is our patient?" He asked Dean who had refused to budge from Sam's bedside.

"I don't know uncle Jim," Dean said not even looking up. "Well then," Pastor Jim said _trying _to sound upbeat and cheerful, "Maybe _you _should take a break. I didn't know if you were hungry or anything so I brought you a snack."

"No thanks uncle Jim," Dean said politely but firmly, "I don't want to take my eyes off of Sammy. Last time I did that he got hurt, I have to watch out for him." Dean _still _didn't look up so Pastor Jim couldn't see the tears in his sad little eyes, but he _knew _they were there anyway.

"Listen," Pastor Jim said firmly but lovingly as he sat on the bed near Dean, "you _know_ that what happened isn't _your_ fault don't you?" Dean didn't say anything. "You're a kid, you _shouldn't_ have to worry about the grown up stuff that your dad and I and people like us deal with, you will have plenty of time for that when you're older."

"I broke our dad's rules," Dean said simply, "I left the motel room and didn't watch out for Sammy and he got hurt." "I know," Pastor Jim said sadly, "but it's going to be ok, Sam is going to be just fine."

"But," Dean said, _finally _turning to face Pastor Jim with tears streaming down his cheeks, "_if _I had just done as our dad told me to, if I _had_ followed the rules like I _usually _do Sammy wouldn't be sick now.

Pastor Jim didn't know what to say, he simply reached over and grabbed Dean's hand and Dean collapsed in his arms, "What's done is done," Pastor Jim said, "now all we can do is make it right. Take care of Sam and nurse him back to health. _That_ _will_ make it right."

Somehow Dean _knew_ Pastor Jim was right, that was _exactly_ what he had _wanted_ to do and now he was telling Dean that it was the _right_ thing to do. Dean would never be able to forget, not anymore than he could ever hope to change what had happened, but he _could_ make it right.

"So you see," Dean said, "I stayed by your bed that whole time and I got you well and _that's_ what I'm going to do _this _time too."

Just then a nurse came in to check on them. For a split second Dean couldn't help but think how hot she was but he quickly put that notion out of his mind, he had to _focus_ on Sammy now and _nothing_ else.

"Do you need anything?" the nurse asked with a smile. "Any other time I would have some kind of come on to go with that but my brother's in a bad way, so no, thanks anyway."

"Well," the nurse said turning to leave, "they're going to be coming to get him for some tests so you _might_ want to try and get some sleep or at least some coffee, I'm sure you're exhausted."

_You have no idea_. Dean thought as he watched her, with a tinge of regret, walk out of the room. _Someone up there has a real thing against me_. He thought as he took a deep breath and turned back to Sam.

Dean was about to start talking again when Doctor Black came back with some other people. "We have to take your brother up for some tests, if you would like to use the time to get some rest feel free to use the other bed, it's empty at the moment, or if you would like some coffee or something to eat the cafeteria is open all night."

"Thanks," Dean said flatly, "I would like to come up with my brother while you run the tests." "I'm afraid that's against hospital policy Mister Jagger. I understand your concern _and_ I wouldn't want another altercation like before but _you're_ just going to have to wait down here."

Dean was way to tired to argue and he certainly didn't want to get tossed out of the place so he couldn't help Sam. "Fine," Dean said harshly, "just make sure you _take_ good care of him."

"I can assure you," Doctor Black said, "your brother is getting the best of care." Dean wasn't entirely sold on that but let the remark go as they moved Sam to a gurney and took him for testing.

Pastor Jim knocked on the door before entering the room this time and heard Dean's faint voice telling him to come in.

"Dean," Pastor Jim said, "you've been sitting there for hours, you _need_ to think about _your own _health just as much as Sam's. You _need _to get some sleep."

Dean looked over, "Can I sleep here, on the floor, in case Sammy _needs _me?" Pastor Jim said, "I thought you might ask that so I dug out some blankets. You can make a bed right _next_ to his if you like."

"Thank you," Dean said politely, "I just _can't_ leave him alone." Then as an after thought Dean asked, "That _thing_ won't come back will it?"

Pastor Jim looked sad but quickly said, "No Dean it won't, it doesn't even _know_ you are here and _most_ truly evil things like that can't enter hallowed ground. We're _safer here_ than just about anywhere in the world."

Dean seemed pleased to hear that but then frowned a bit and asked, "Is dad safe?" Pastor Jim seemed to consider the question and said, "Honestly, what he _does_ is risky, but he _knows_ what he is doing and his love for you keeps him safe. He will be alright as long as he has you and Sam to care about."

"That's good," Dean said taking the blankets Pastor Jim offered and spreading them out. As Pastor Jim turned to leave the room he saw, out of the corner of his eye, as Dean whispered good night to Sam and lightly kissed his forehead.

Dean sat in the corner of the virtually empty cafeteria trying to swallow down some of the worst coffee he had _ever_ had the misfortune to taste. He considered it worse than the time he accidentally grabbed Sammy's fru fru gourmet junk by mistake.

While he finished up Dean turned on his cell phone and checked to see if he had any messages but was disappointed to see that there were _none_, then on a whim he pulled their dad's journal out of his inside coat pocket and opened it up to the information on the Scorpio-demons, it was a long shot but he _hoped_ maybe he had made some kind of notes on their stingers and what they do, however, just as he figured, there was _nothing_.

Rubbing his eyes Dean _struggled_ to figure out _what_ to do, he _had _to pull Sammy through this mess, he just _had_ to.

Once again he cursed himself for _not _being fast enough as the events of before replayed in his head. He _should_ have _known_ what was going to happen, he _should_ have been the one to take the stinger; he _should_ be the one in the coma!

Dean couldn't even begin to imagine what he would do _if_ Sammy didn't… he couldn't even finish the thought. He _knew_ that he couldn't make it without Sammy anymore. Not since they got back together and spent all that time looking for their dad.

Somewhere along the way they became _brothers_ again and the idea of being separated, _especially _like this made Dean feel so _hollow_ inside, with their dad gone they were the only family they had left and he _couldn't_…. _wouldn't_… lose Sam too.

Dean woke up in the middle of the night. He had a dream that the _monster_ was back after all and that it was attacking Sammy again.

Dean groped in the dark for a weapon but suddenly remembered they were at Pastor Jim's and he didn't have a weapon.

By the time Dean stood up the image was gone and he realized it _had_ _been a dream_, the _monster_ wasn't back, _but_ Sammy was moving, he had opened his eyes.

Dean leaned in and whispered, "You _ok_ Sammy?" Sam seemed barely awake, barely aware of his surroundings. "What happened Dean? Where are we?" "Something came into the motel room; dad saved you and took us to uncle Jim's. Now, he's on the trail of it, he's going get it for what it did and I'm going help you get all better and _everything_ will be back like it was."

Sam smiled a weak smile, "I like uncle Jim's it's peaceful." Then he went back to sleep. Dean smiled to himself and whispered, "Yes it is _and _it's _safe_."

By the time they brought Sam back to his room from the tests Dean had already been there for awhile but instead of sleeping he was standing in the corner looking out the window.

When he heard them coming in he turned and said, "It's _about_ time. How did the tests go?" Doctor Black was there at the head of the group and went over to where Dean was standing.

"All of the tests we've gotten back so far have come back negative," Doctor Black explained, "he's not slipping any _further_ into his coma _but_ we _still_ haven't found any indications as to it's cause."

"What's _next_?" Dean asked in a low, sad, voice. "There are _still_ tests that haven't come back yet, but _if _they _don't_ tell us anything we will be back at square one."

"In the _meantime_," Dean said, "I'm back to talking to him." Doctor Black simply nodded and once Sam was back into his bed and situated they left. "I will leave you to it Mister Jagger, I will let you know when the rest of the test results come in."

Dean simply grunted and walked back over to the bed. "What did I tell ya' Sammy," Dean said forcing a sly grin that lacked the genuine emotion it usually had, "Doctors _don't_ have a clue. I haven't heard from the others _yet_ but don't worry, _someone _will pull through."

Dean heard the door creak and for a moment the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Was it that _thing_ back after all, like in his dreams?

As it turned out it was uncle Jim. He had been trying to be quiet so as not to wake Dean but he had heard him each time he came in to check on them, every half hour like clockwork, because Dean had _hardly ever_ been asleep.

This time Dean popped his head up and in a tired little voice asked, "What time is it?" Pastor Jim's silhouette moved closer and said "it's half past four in the morning. Has Sam woke up?"

Dean grinned a bit and said, "For a few minutes. He didn't _know_ what happed to him or where he was but he was happy when I told him we were here." "Yes," Pastor Jim said, "Sam has always liked it here. He told me once he found it peaceful."

Dean simply smiled again. "What's that uncle Jim?" Dean asked seeing a large metal thermos in his hand.

"Oh this?" Pastor Jim said, "I brought it for Sam. It's a little home remedy I mixed up that will help him get over what ails him." Dean nodded and asked, "Can _I _give it too him?"

Pastor Jim said, "I _think _that would be a great idea Dean. I will leave it with you, when he _wakes_ up again pour some of it into the little cup on top and get him to sip it, _slowly_ if he takes it too fast he won't be able to keep it down. He needs to drink it _all_ but only a little at a time."

"Yes sir," Dean said like he had said to his dad so many times before. "Good boy," Pastor Jim said rustling the hair on top of his head. Dean _liked_ it when he did that; it reminded him of his dad and made him feel safe when his dad was gone.

Once Pastor Jim gave him the thermos he left the room again, he _knew_ Dean _needed_ to do as much of this on his own as he _could_. It was the _only_ way that Dean would _ever_ find _any _kind of peace with what had happened to Sam.

He just hoped that concoction he found _would_ work. The books said it was the perfect Shtriga antidote but you had to take a _lot_ of stuff in the books with a grain of salt _and _he had to substitute some of the ingredients since this was all so last minute.

A few minutes after Pastor Jim left the room Sam started to wake up again. "Dean?" He said weakly, "I had a weird dream… some _thing_ in black was standing over me… then there were gunshots and you told me we were at uncle Jim's place."

"We are," Dean said soothingly, "uncle Jim was _just_ in here and left something for you. You have to drink some of it, he said it would make you feel better." As Dean told Sam this he opened the thermos and poured some of the hot yellowish liquid into the little cup.

Sitting down next to Sam he took his head and leaned it back. Sam's eyes were opened but Dean could tell they were _not_ focused. "Stay with me Sammy, _please_" Dean said, "Come on, sip this."

Dean held the little cup to Sam's lips and was able to get some of it down him before he started to pull away. "It's ok Sammy, that's enough for now." Dean said _trying_ to soothe him.

He stayed with him with Sam's head in his lap until Sam went back to sleep then he sat there and watched him as he slept. Dean didn't know if the stuff was already taking effect or if, more likely, it was his imagination but Sam's cheeks seemed to start to regain their color and he seemed a little better. For the _first_ time since Sam was attacked Dean felt like he _might_ actually be all right.

Dean snapped his head back up. _Damn it_, he thought _I dozed off_. "Sorry about that Sammy he said standing up and taking Sam's hand. He hadn't moved since the doctors brought him back from the tests.

"I _don't_ know if you _really can_ hear me or _not_ Sammy," Dean said sadly, "but_ if _you can you _have _to come back to me. What am I _supposed _to do? I told you once that you and dad are all I have and now that dad's _gone_, it's just _you and me_. You _have _to make it _Sammy_." At this point Dean was starting to cry again and out of habit he wiped the tears away with the back of his hand.

"I _never_ told you _this_ Sammy but those years you were away at school…" Dean started almost fighting with himself about if he _should _say it our not, "were _some _of the lonliest years of my life."

"Sure dad was around but _you_ _know_ how he can get on a job," Dean paused, "and of course there was Cassie, she was really great, but at the end of the day I was _always_ wondering _what_ you were doing, where you were and _if_ you were ok or not."

Dean looked up, his eyes glistening with small tears and _this_ time he fought his habit and _didn't_ wipe them away, _this_ time he _wanted_ to leave them.

"I _even_ looked up your number and address _once_ but I _never _worked up the guts to use them. _Honestly_, I _didn't_ think you would want me to. I _wouldn't_ even go with dad when he would swing by and check in on you. I _told _him, hell I _told myself_ it was because I was still angry with you for leaving but _really _I was afraid. Afraid that I wouldn't be able to just watch from a distance, that I would _want_ to talk to you and _terrified_ that you _wouldn't_ want to talk to me."

"The time we spent on the road looking for dad," Dean said, his voice shaking, "aside from worrying about him and _trying _to find him that was the best time in life. Then when we _did_ find him, or actually he _found_ us, and we were hunting together again, as a family, even with the two of you fighting I was _happy_ we were a _family_ again, even if for only a little while."

"All things considered, all the bad times, all the crap that we slugged through I will say at least _one_ good thing came out of it _all_, you and I got to be brothers again and I wouldn't _trade _that for _anything_. I…." Dean stopped he wasn't sure _if _he _should_ say it. He had always felt it but he hadn't _really_ said it, not to Sam, he finally took a deep breath, leaned in close and whispered in Sam's ear, "I love you Sammy. You _have _to come back to me… _please_."

Dean had fallen asleep holding Sam's head so when he woke up again it startled Dean awake as well.

"Dean?" Sam said in a tiny voice. "How ya' feeling Sammy?" Dean asked. "I feel…better. Did I dream it or are we at uncle Jim's?" "Yeah Sammy," Dean said, "We're at uncle Jim's. He's letting us stay while dad gets the _thing_ that did this to you."

Sam seemed to nod as if he understood. "You going to make me drink anymore of that stuff? It was nasty." Dean smiled, "I wish I could say no Sammy but uncle Jim says it will make you better. It's medicine and you need it. If you take it, for me, I will be sure save you all the Lucky Charms you _want_ later."

Sam smiled and said, "Ok Dean, _for you_ I will take more. _Only_ for you we can _share_ the Lucky Charms." Dean started to tear up again as he poured out more of the stuff Uncle Jim had made and got Sam to slowly swallow it.

Sam made a face but once he was done he said, "There Dean, I did it for you, I drank it all…." He was going to say more but apparently part of the stuff's purpose was to make him sleepy because he went to sleep again, with a peaceful look on his face.

_That's my boy_, Dean thought as he watched Sam peacefully sleeping with his head still in Dean's lap.

Dean hadn't let go of Sam's hand since the time he had accidentally dozed off, he _wanted_ to make sure that _if_ something like that happened _again _that Sam would _still_ know that he was around.

Dean wasn't really sure what _more_ he _could_ say to Sam, it was rare for him to just let go and pour out his heart but he was _doing_ it in hopes of saving Sam and had pretty much told him _everything_ he had been keeping bottled up for _years_ and thus far it was having no effect.

There was really only _one_ thing he _could_ think of that _might _get through to Sam and as things stood he was more than _willing_ to try _anything_.

Dean stood up and leaned near Sam. "Sammy," Dean said, "you often called me on keeping my emotions bottled up and not sharing them with you and you were right. I don't know I guess it's this job or maybe just the way I am. I'm a lot like our dad that way I guess. I mean I _know_ he loved us and I'm _sure_ despite all the fighting and everything that you _know_ it to."

"I just _don't_ know how to open up like you do. I told you once that I admired you and was proud of you for knowing what you want and going after it but I also admire you for being able to open up like I've _rarely_ been able to do . Seems like it takes something like this to get me to _even_ try. I guess what I'm getting at is, you were…_are_… right I _should_ be more open, and if not to my _own _brother, then to who?"

Then Dean leaned in and did something extremely rare. He carefully lifted Sam up and put his arms around him giving the kind of big hug that part of him had _wanted _to give him for a long time. When he did that it all flowed out, the emotion he had been holding back hit him like a tidal wave.

He held the embrace for what seemed like a long time then suddenly he heard something. Sam moaned a bit then said, in a weak voice. "Dean? Are you hugging me?"

Dean carefully put him back down and said, "Of course not Sammy, your pillows needed adjusting." Sam smiled weakly and said, "You _weren't_ touching my pillows."

"Whatever," Dean said seeking to change the subject. Then Sam's eyes narrowed and he asked, "Are you _crying_." "No," Dean said falling into his old habits, "I'm allergic to the hospital cleaners, man those _things_ are strong."

Sam simply let the matter drop. "What happened? I feel like a wrecking ball hit me in the stomach."

Dean smiled a bit; this time it had all the emotion it usually had. "You're slipping up there Sammy. You let the Scorpio-demon get the drop on you and took it's stinger in the stomach. It was kind of touch and go there for awhile and of course the docs here were of _no _help. Which reminds me, as soon as you're up to it we had better blow this taco stand, I don't think that doc bought my story."

"Why, what did you tell him?" Sam asked slowly sitting up. "I told him we were out deer hunting when a wild buck got ya' with a horn." "No _wonder_ he didn't buy that," Sam said laughing slightly. "There are _no_ dear in this area." Dean got a surprised look on his face, "_Now _you tell me college boy."

"How are you feeling?" Dean asked. "Other than the hole in my stomach I feel fine, we can leave if that's what you're worried about." "Not totally," Dean admitted, "but we had probably better make ourselves scarce before someone starts asking for your side of the story and asks questions we _can't_ answer."

The light of the rising sun slowly lit up the room as Dean continued to watch Sam sleep. He had woken up more and more through the _rest_ of the night and had, to make Dean happy, drunk the rest of the medicine that Pastor Jim had made.

Just then Pastor Jim knocked on the door again and Dean told him to come in. "How's he doing?" Pastor Jim asked.

"He took _all_ of the stuff you gave me for him," Dean told him proud of the job he had done. "Good work Dean," Pastor Jim said sitting next to Sam and examining him.

"Oh," Pastor Jim said, "he's going to be fine. A few hours sleep and when he wakes up he will be his old self. Now Dean I need to talk to you for a minute."

Dean was worried, he couldn't imagine _what_ Pastor Jim wanted to say. "When Sam wakes up and is all better," Pastor Jim began, "he _probably won't_ remember _any_ of this and as scary as it _could_ be for a child his age I don't think you _should_ tell him."

"Ok," Dean said slightly saddened that Sam wouldn't know what he did to help him but also partially relieved because he also _wouldn't_ know how he had failed him. "If that's what you want."

Pastor Jim smiled and said, "I _think_ it would be the best thing for Sam. The way things are he will be exposed to this kind of thing _soon_ enough, your dad has already begun to teach you a little, I know. It would just be for the best _if _Sam was taught these things by your dad, when he thinks the time is right."

Dean couldn't agree more so he smiled and said, "You're right. I promise I _won't_ tell Sammy any of _this_ ever." "Good boy," Pastor Jim said getting up to leave the room, "_now_, you _need _to get some sleep. Your dad called and he should be back here by noon, maybe one o'clock, you need to be well rested and ready to go."

The news made Dean smile and he felt safer and felt that Sammy was safer _now_ too because he _knew_ that if his dad was on his way home he _had_ gotten the _thing_.

"Doctor," the nurse said to Doctor Black. "The blood test results on Samuel Jagger, the coma patient in room 42."

Doctor Black looked at the results, and then he looked at them _again_. He _would_ have looked at them a third time but he doubted they would make any _more_ sense so he didn't bother.

The nurse must have read the look on his face because she asked, "What's the matter Doctor?" "These test results…" Doctor Brown struggled for the words and finally said, "according to these there's a foreign substance in the blood. The lab couldn't figure out _what _it was, they say the _closest_ equivalent is scorpion venom. But, by the amount

that's in the patient he would have to have been stung something like a hundred times. It also, notes that the effects _are_ similar to a muscular inhibitor, in other words the toxin wouldn't kill, it would paralyze."

"Is that even possible?" the nurse asked puzzled, she was no expert but she had lived in the area _all_ of her _life_ and wasn't aware of _anything_ with venom like that, sure there were a lot of missing persons in the woods but those were usually attributed to wild _animals_ not massive groups of scorpions with weird venom.

"Until I read this report," Doctor Brown said, "I wouldn't have _thought_ so but they say they ran the tests multiple times, _always_ with the same results."

At that point Doctor Black dropped the folder on his desk and took off for room 42 as fast as he could run, but when he got there the room was empty. He checked the closet and the patient's clothes were _gone_, all that was left was the dressing gown he had worn and a note that said simply:

Thanks Doc,

My brother is better now so we're going to get out of your hair.

Doctor Black _thought_ about calling security to check the place out, to _try _and find them but with the disturbing test results and the patient's sudden departure he started to feel it was time to cut his losses and pretend _none _of it _ever_ happened.

Dean _insisted _on helping Sam to the Impala. "We don't want you to snap a stitch or something, that doc back there is _bound _to have questions, especially when some of those test results come back, man I would love to see the look on his face when he sees the blood work with that Scorpio-demon junk in it."

Sam smiled and said, "_Hopefully_ he will be smart and forget, I don't _think_ the medical community is ready for something as hard to explain as that.

Just as they were pulling out of the parking lot Dean's cell phone rang so he pulled it out of his pocket and said, "Yeah!"

It was Bobby on the other end of the line, "Sorry to be so late getting back to you Dean but those Scorpio-demons are hard to find information on." "Tell me about it," Dean said, "if dad hadn't already done so much of the legwork we would _probably_ _still_ be at it. But Bobby…"

Before Dean could tell him that everything was all right Bobby cut him off, "but you _don't_ haven _anything_ to worry about. I _finally _found it, an 18th century account of a guy who had been stung by one, just like Sam, he's going to be fine. According to what he wrote it just puts you into a coma-like state for a few hours. You can hear _everything _going on around you but otherwise you're out."

"Can still _hear_ everything?" Dean asked. "Yeah," Bobby said sounding a little unnerved, "nasty bastards, you can hear and are fully aware of what's happening as they take you back to their lair and feed on you." "Ok, thanks for that Bobby. Hey, Bobby, can you call around, tell everyone the news, I would do it myself but I have a couple of bits of unfinished business and I'm exhausted."

"Sure thing Dean, just come around when Sam is up and let me know how it all went." Bobby said sounding concerned despite the news. "Sure will," Dean said, "Later Bobby." Then he closed his phone and put it in his pocket.

"So," Sam asked sounding much better, "What did Bobby have to say?" "Nothing we didn't already _know_," Dean said, "_except _that you _could_ hear every word I said."

Sam smiled a bit but it faltered when he saw the look on Dean's face. "Yeah," Sam admitted, "I _wasn't_ going to _say_ anything because I know how you feel about that sort of thing, but I heard it all."

Dean looked put out then said, "Hey, you _gotta _remember I _thought_ you were a goner, I would have said _anything_ to get you to wake up." "So," Sam asked with a look of concentration, "You _didn't mean_ any of it?"

Dean looked nervous and said, "I _wouldn't_ say _that_, of course I _meant_ it, it's just…" Sam smiled a bit and said, "I _know_ Dean, I _understand_, look we don't _have_ to talk about this _if_ it makes you uncomfortable."

"Thanks," Dean said simply, "I _did_ mean _every_ word of it, I just…" "I know," Sam said simply, "if it helps any I feel _exactly_ the same about you, _every _word of it and I _never_ really held any kind of grudge and I would have been _happy _to see you in Palo Alto _if _you had _wanted _to come."

"I know Sammy," Dean said. "Oh," Sam said, "and I love you too man." Dean rolled his eyes and blushed a bit but Sam _knew_ he was glad to hear it. "How about we just say this job _never _happened."

"Speaking of which," Sam said changing the subject for Dean, "where are we going?" "We have to get rid of that _thing's_ body. Can you imagine if some camper stumbled on the _thing_ it would be all over the tabloids, not that _anyone _takes them seriously but still."

Sam took the point and simply nodded and leaned back. "Don't go to sleep on me Sammy, you've slept enough for the time being." Sam smiled and said, "I promise no comas for me for awhile."

Sam and Dean had woken up around nine that morning and Pastor Jim had made them a nice breakfast.

Sam had a lot of questions about what happened and Dean was careful with how he answered them, remembering what Pastor Jim had told him, and after awhile Sam forgot all about his questions.

True to his word around noon their dad came back and they were glad to see him. Dean always felt sad, once the initial happiness wore off, because when their dad would come home from a hunt he seemed not quite like himself, at least for awhile. This time it was worse than normal.

"How are my boys," their dad said in an _attempt_ to sound anything other than sad, tired and wore down. Dean was quick to say, "Sammy is great he's as good as new dad." John smiled to see Sam up and running around and being like his old self, maybe it would be all right after all, even if that Shtriga _thing_ got away. There would be _other_ chances, he would be sure Dean _knew _everything he needed to _know_ to deal with it should it come back, but he _would_ never _tell_ Dean that it got away this time, _if_ he knew that John was sure the guilt would weigh him down for the _rest_ of his life.

After their dad and Pastor Jim had a little private talk he came back and said, "You boys ready to hit the road?" Sam wasn't so sure but Dean was more than ready, he loved traveling with his dad and Sammy.

"Tell Pastor Jim thank you for letting you stay over and let's go." Their dad said lovingly. "Thank you uncle Jim," Sam and Dean said in unison, which put a small smile on their dad's face. He turned and shook Pastor Jim's hand and thanked him for his help, and then they were gone and back on the road.

"You sure you don't want me to come with you?" Sam asked as Dean unloaded some stuff, he was going to burn the body rather than just bury it because he didn't have the steam to dig a _deep_ grave and if it was _too_ shallow someone_ might _find it.

"No Sammy, I don't want you to bust a stitch _besides_ if there's _one_ thing I can handle on my own it's burning some stinkin' demon's corpse."

"Alright," Sam said guessing that Dean had a point, "_if _you need any help just let me know." "Will do," Dean said walking off to where they left the body.

When Dean found it again he was amazed at how much damage he had done to it. He _knew_ he lost it out there when Sammy got hurt but he had no idea. He was _almost_ temped to _leave_ it, the thing was such a mess no one would be able to figure out what it was.

He decided to go through with his original plan anyway. He had a feeling he _needed_ to do this, Sammy would call it closure, but he would call it tying up loose ends.

"Well," Dean said to the remains, "you son of bitch, you made me think Sammy was going to die. You caused me a lot of pain tonight and I don't mean when you batted me into the tree. You're just lucky Sammy's ok and that I can only kill you once."

With that he poured gasoline on the remains and pulled out his matches. He had _never_ enjoyed burning remains more than he did this time and for a moment he wondered if there was something wrong with that but he eventually decided it was ok, this once, the _thing_ had hurt his Sammy and that was reason enough.

Once the remains were pretty much burned away he put the fire out and threw some dirt over it so it wouldn't show so much then walked back to the car.

"You ok?" Sam asked Dean as he climbed inside and started up the car. "Me?" Dean said with a smirk, "you're the one with a hole in his gut."

"Yeah," Sam said, "but somehow I think you got the worst end of the deal." Dean looked over in the guise of backing out and said, "I _thought_ you said we didn't have to talk about this."

"We don't _have _to," Sam said, "I just thought after everything you said you _might_ want _too_."

Dean looked at him square in the eyes this time and said, "Not really. All I want to do is clean up and sleep for a while. You got some rest, I on the other hand, have been up all night and could _really_ use some sleep."

"Suit yourself," Sam said "but if you should decide…." "Ok Sammy," Dean said, "_If _I decide to spill my guts again you will be the _first _to know." Then he pointed the Impala in the general direction of Bobby's place and they drove off.


End file.
